


thought these dreams were friends of mine

by ShyAudacity



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood and Injury, Hospitals, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Kidnapping, Implied Relationships, Mentioned Maddie Buckley, Minor Violence, Multi, Prompt Fill, Revenge, Stabbing, Team as Family, Whump, Worried Bobby Nash, its implied idk, only mentioned in past tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28801929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: Bobby opens his mouth to interject when a sudden noise speaks for him. There are sounds of a struggle and the screech of tires from outside. He gets to the entrance just in time to see a grey truck speed away from the curb, leaving somebody at the end of the driveway, struggling to pick himself up off the ground.Wait. That’s not just anybody, it’s-.“Buck!”Eddie yells from behind Bobby, taking the word out of his mouth.ORFor Bingo Squares: Make An Example Of Them and Bleeding Out.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101905
Comments: 22
Kudos: 595





	thought these dreams were friends of mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nearly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nearly/gifts).



> I've been excited about this one since Becky told me her idea and I hope she loves it. Also, the Buddie in this fic is mostly implied and hardly there, fair warning. Please tell me if I missed any tags!
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Young by The Band CAMINO.

After the fact, he’ll wonder if he should’ve seen this coming.

Bobby checks his phone for the two hundredth time this shift. He keeps hoping he’ll have an update from Buck explaining why he never showed up for his shift, but nothing ever comes. It’s not like Buck to pull a stunt like his; in the earlier days, maybe, but definitely not now. The job means too much to him, everyone can see it.

Even still, Bobby can’t for the life of him figure out why Buck couldn’t at least call first before skipping out on his shift.

He’s got his duffle in his hands after going over shift notes with Captain Parker. When he gets to the bottom of the stairs, he spots Hen and Eddie talking to each other outside of the locker room; Chimney joins them after buttoning up his shirt. When his phone pings, Bobby quickly pulls it out of his pocket then grimaces when it’s not what he wants.

“That Buck?” Eddie asks after seeing his reaction.

“No, missed call. Don’t even recognize the number. Did any of you ever hear from him?” Everyone shakes their heads and Bobby can’t say he’s surprised.

“I tried calling him once or twice,” Chimney states. “But I never heard anything. Neither did Maddie.”

“I tried him, too,” Eddie says. “I couldn’t get a hold of him either. Last time I talked to him was right before the end of his shift yesterday. His phone rang while we were talking and then I couldn’t find him again once the day was over.”

Hen chimes in as she walks towards the doors. “Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from him since last shift either… that can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

Bobby opens his mouth to interject when a sudden noise speaks for him. There are sounds of a struggle and the screech of tires from outside. He gets to the entrance just in time to see a grey truck speed away from the curb, leaving somebody at the end of the driveway, struggling to pick himself up off the ground.

Wait. That’s not just anybody, it’s-.

 _“Buck!”_ Eddie yells from behind Bobby, taking the word out of his mouth.

In a second, all of them are rushing to help, dropping their belongings in the process. Bobby and Eddie towards Buck while Hen and Chimney rush to the ambulance. Bobby tries to get a good look at the truck’s license plate, but it’s no use- it’s already around the corner.

Buck’s got himself propped up on one elbow when they get there, his other arm pressed tight against his stomach; Eddie drops down right behind him. His LAFD t-shirt has tears in it all over, all of them showing off shallow gashes across his chest. The left side of his face is a bloody mess; it’s impossible to tell where it’s coming from. 

When Buck finally looks up at him, Bobby thinks that he might be sick; his eyes are glassy and bloodshot. "Bobby,” he says exhaustedly. “I'm bleedin' a lot."

Looking down, Bobby notices the small growing pool of blood underneath Buck’s right side and in a second Bobby forgets about everything else. He looks over his shoulder again just as Chimney and Hen come back with medkits. “Where are you hurt, Buck?”

“He got me in the stomach pretty good,” Buck says, breathing heavy. A second later, he lets his elbow drop out from under him, laying awkwardly against Eddie’s legs and chest. “An’ he got me in the head.”

Bobby reaches for Buck’s arm still holding tight against his stomach, feeling for his pulse. It’s not great, but he’s definitely seen worse. “Buck, I know you don’t want to, but I need you to move your arm so we can see what we’re dealing with.”

Buck breathes deeply a few times before moving. When he pulls his arm away, it’s an ugly sight; there are three, deep knife wounds across the bottom of his stomach, all of them bleeding steadily. Buck groans when Hen presses gauze into the wounds, pushing his head back into Eddie’s chest; he shakes his head before she can apologize.

“It’s okay,” he says. “I know you have to.”

“Look at me for a minute, Buck,” Chimney says, kneeling by Buck’s left side. He tilts Buck’s chin just enough that he can clean off his face and find the source of the blood. There’s an abrasion right near his hairline that proves to be the culprit; he presses the damp rag against the cut, motioning for Eddie to take it. “I’ll run inside and tell Captain Parker what’s going on, get the rig started. We need to move him before he loses any more blood.”

Bobby nods, watching Chimney runoff. Before anyone can think of asking, Buck tells them, “He grabbed me at the end of last shift. Said this was- was what happened when p-people get ignored.”

“Ignored?” Eddie asks. “How?”

“He was m-mad at…” Buck struggles to find his words; he meets Bobby’s eye again. “I tried to stop him. I tried, I didn’t- I didn’t want anybody else to get hurt.”

Bobby doesn’t get to ask him any more questions before the bells ring from inside the firehouse. Chimney comes rushing back over to them, but the look on his face is full of worry. “There’s a massive pile-up on the freeway, multiple reports of injuries already. They need every available unit there is- what the hell are we supposed to do?”

For once, Bobby wishes there was someone else here that could give him all the answers, tell him the right way to fix all of this. He takes one look at Buck, paler than he was a minute ago, and Bobby knows what he needs to do. He digs his keys out of his pocket and holds them out to Hen.

“We’ll take him in a department vehicle,” he says. “Hen, I need you to pull the car around. Chimney, call ahead to the hospital, let them know we’re bringing in one of our own. Eddie, help me get him up. We gotta move, now.”

By some shred of luck, Eddie and Bobby get Buck off the ground just as the ambulance pulls out of the driveway; he groans in pain as soon as he’s on his feet again. While they get Buck into the car, Bobby wonders how much it’s going to cost him to get the blood out of these seats. Maybe the department will forgive him when he tells them the story, or maybe they’ll just ask him again why things like this keep happening to his team.

It doesn’t matter how long or hard he thinks about it. He can never seem to find the right answer.

As Hen drives, Buck sits between Eddie and Bobby in the backseat, leaning against Eddie more and more the closer that they get. When he can’t hold himself up any longer, Eddie braces Buck against his chest and speaks quietly in his ear, trying his hardest to keep him conscious.

“Hang on, Buck,” Eddie says, the words ghosting over Buck’s ear. “Just a little bit longer, alright? You’re gonna just fine.”

They’re two minutes out from the hospital when Buck’s head begins to loll on his neck. Bobby reaches over and pats his cheek when Buck’s eyes start to flutter and roll back.

“Hey, hey, come on, Buck. Don’t quit on us, now.”

Buck groans again when Hen takes a sharp corner and all that Eddie and Bobby can do is hold onto him tighter. His words slur together when he tries to speak, “M’not… not quitting.”

“That’s good, Buck,” Bobby says, squeezing his hand. “You’re doing so good, just keep holding on for me.”

There's a stretcher and a group of the hospital staff waiting for them when they pull up to the door. Even with the assistance, Buck is a deadweight between the two of them; two nurses help get Buck situated on the gurney. Before Bobby can answer the doctor’s questions or ask any of his own, Buck is being rolled away from all of them- leaving the four of them alone in the doorway with only their worries.

“Why would somebody do this?” Eddie asks, his voice strained. “How does somebody else win by going after Buck?”

“It doesn’t matter why,” Chimney says with a hard tone. “Nobody pulls a stunt like this and gets away with it. I’m calling Maddie- I don’t want her finding out the wrong way.”

 _I need to call Athena,_ Bobby thinks to himself. _She’ll know where to go from here._

When he pulls his phone out of his pocket, the screen lights up with a voice mail notification. That missed call from earlier; with all the chaos and worry of the last half hour, Bobby had forgotten all about it. It strikes him as odd. He doesn’t usually get calls from numbers he doesn’t know, much less voicemails.

He takes a few steps away from the group as he presses play, sighing as he does so. Then, the audio starts, and Bobby feels all the air in his lungs leave in a second.

 _“Captain Nash,”_ the voice says, _“It’s a shame about that injured firefighter of yours- or should I say, it’s going to be.”_

There’s a thud as the phone is dropped, then the unmistakable sound of a skull smashing against the windshield. Over the truck’s engine, Bobby can just barely hear Buck pleading with the guy, telling him he doesn’t have to this before cutting into his stomach. A car door opens, then scuffling followed by a loud groan.

 _This is when he dumped Buck and left him for dead_ , Bobby’s brain supplies; his blood begins to boil. 

Tires screech in his ear as he realizes the voice mail is still playing. “ _Looks to me like you’re down a man. Do yourself a favor, Captain Nash- next time you’re thinking about passing someone over for a position they deserve, think of this moment. Think of how badly it hurts to know that this is your fault.”_

The voicemail stops and for a long moment, Bobby can’t even make himself move. He stands there, still only a few feet from the doorway, dumbfounded by all of this and wondering to himself how he didn’t figure it out sooner.

He’s dialed Athena’s number before he’s even realized it, her concerned voice echoing in his ear. _“Bobby? Bobby, talk to me- what’s going on?_

“Somebody hurt Buck,” he says, his voice cold. “And I know exactly who it was.”

Nate Sampson is a floater firefighter in the LAFD. Every house he’s applied to has turned him away- the one-eighteen included in that. As soon as the interview started, Bobby knew that it wasn’t going to work out- Sampson is too much of a narcissist to consider the well-being of others and their needs in immediate crisis. Working in a field like this would only further inflate his ego and Bobby said as much in his interview notes.

“I don’t know he could’ve gotten a hold of them,” Bobby tells Athena over the phone. “Sampson seemed like a smart guy, but not that smart. Definitely didn’t seem like the type to hold somebody captive for more than a day just cause he didn’t get what he wanted. Has the arrest been made?”

 _“Cuffed him myself,”_ she replies. _“It’ll take me a little while to fill out these reports, but I’ll come by the hospital as soon as I’m done. How’s Buck doing?”_

It’s been two hours since they brought Buck in, but somehow it all feels like it was only a minute ago that everything happened. Bobby's been watching Buck and Eddie from the hallway since they got him stitched up and into a room. Buck is sleeping off all the excitement and pains of the last two days while Eddie sits by the bed, just keeping him company. He's never regretted partnering them together, not for a second. 

“Doctors say that he’s going to be fine, but with Buck’s history of bad luck I’m not holding my breath."

_“Sounds about right to me. And you? How are you holding up?”_

Bobby knew the question was coming sooner or later, and yet it still makes his heart skip a beat or two. He stills where he’s been pacing in the hallway, trying to think of a way to say this without losing his cool. “I keep seeing it; Sampson driving away and leaving Buck there like he was nothing. He was _a mess,_ Athena. I mean, any worse and we could've-."

He can't even make himself say it. He's lost enough people in his life already, he's not going to lose one of his firefighters, too. Bobby clears his throat, shaking his head to get rid of the bad feelings. “I’ll be okay,” he says, hardly believing his own words. "I'll give you a call if anything changes. I love you. See you soon."

He pockets his phone again just as Eddie gets up from his seat. Eddie looks about as worn out as Bobby feels, but he doesn't comment on it.

"I'm going to go get some coffee and check in with Carla," Eddie says. "I hate to leave him alone, would you-."

"Of course," Bobby says. "Take your time. I'll be here."

Eddie pats him on the arm as he walks by, his own silent form of communicating. Bobby takes the seat that Eddie was once in, making a mental catalog of Buck’s face. The stitches on his temple stand out harshly compared to his birthmark. He’s less pale than he was when they brought him in, but Bobby still can’t get the picture out of his head. A chill goes down his spine just thinking about it; he makes a note to call the department therapist- and his sponsor, too. Just to be safe. 

He can’t have been sitting there for more than five minutes when Buck starts to stir. Bobby doesn’t say anything at first, letting Buck come back to awareness himself. Buck shifts against the pillows a few times before he sucks in a quick, nervous breath and picks up his head, his eyes darting around the room. When he finally sees Bobby, the tension leaves his shoulders.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” Buck says hoarsely; his throat must be parched.

“How’re you feeling?”

Buck settles back into the hospital bed, grimacing when it pulls at his stomach uncomfortably. “I’ve felt worse, but…”

“Still not good,” Bobby supplies, and Buck nods without looking at him.

The silence stretches between them. Bobby has a million questions- most of them along the lines _do you want to talk about it-_ but he doesn’t want to push Buck. Not so soon.

“The guy was a firefighter, right?” Buck asks. When Bobby nods, he says, “I recognized him from my recertification class. Thought he was an arrogant douche back then, but… I didn’t think he’d do something like this.”

“Nobody did, Buck. People like him know how to fool others without blinking an eye.”

“He’s not, um,” Buck’s eyes shift towards the doorway, his hands tightening around the blankets. “Is he-?”

Bobby shakes his head. “No. Athena made the arrest herself; after what he did to you, it’s going to be a long while before he sees sunlight again.”

He relaxes right away, relieved in a way that Bobby hasn’t seen on him in a while. After everything that Buck has been through in the last few years- the truck bombing, getting stuck in a tsunami and now _this_ \- Bobby doesn’t even want to imagine what his nightmares must look like.

"Eddie should be back in a minute- I can leave you alone if you'd like some time to yourself."

Buck shakes his head, his eyes lighting up a little at the mention of Eddie’s name. "You can stay... Might fall asleep though."

Bobby manages a small laugh. "That's okay, kid. You've had a crazy couple of days; sleep as much as you need."

True to his own word, Buck is out again within two minutes. It's the first moment of uninterrupted silence that Bobby's had since his shift started yesterday morning, and it makes his skin crawl. He always thought that as he gets older he would learn to lean into the silence more, but it’s been just the opposite. Bad things always seem to happen when it's quiet for too long; these days, it just makes him nervous.

Eddie comes back before the sour feeling can eat at him too long. He’s quick to give Eddie his seat back; Bobby has too much nervous energy to sit. He needs something to do with his hands, like wring Nate Sampson’s neck-.

“Are you sticking around?” Eddie asks. 

The question pulls Bobby out of his own head, and he finds himself nodding lamely. “Yeah, yeah- just need to make a call. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He finds that his hands are shaking as he steps into the hallway again. Bobby’s fingers hit the wrong contact three times before he finally manages to get the right number. When the person on the other end picks up right away, he breathes out a sigh of relief.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, Paul. Is this a bad time?”

 _“Not at all,”_ his sponsor says. _“What’s going on?”_

Bobby looks back inside Buck’s room, his eyes immediately falling on his sleeping face. He wills his voice not to shake as he says: “I’m having a bad day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading my fic! Comments/Kudos are appreciated and encouraged. I'm on tumblr as paranoidbean if you wanna talk fic or 9-1-1. Have a great day!


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